# Degen Insights: Gamifying Life By [Bhau](https://paragraph.com/@bhau) · 2022-02-03 --- As I sat there at my desktop clicking away to maximize my yield for the nth time… ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/dd08204ee5c0c2346095fc1c68ca255ed8a461120594d9579cbc7c1bb2a71c0d.jpg) …a thought occurred to me one day: > _what if people were offered the incentive to earn yield, instead, by performing activities of daily living or contributing to public goods and services?_ I had realized I probably didn’t want to earn a living this way for the rest of my life. While I was certainly grateful for the opportunity to experience the life unlock enabled by this new technology, I began to question my place in this evolving relationship between labor and capital. I had attained financial security and freedom from the golden handcuffs, but I found myself playing the same game yet again… ![More clicks → More yield.](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/aa684341d0b911ff5a956904537b245e47eb742a2f888248f00ae84b54dfecac.png) More clicks → More yield. I had grown to **_deeply despise_** the contemporary practice of medicine; but history appeared to have rhymed as I found myself at it again, clicking away at the screen. Fortunately this was not the first time, and for that I was thankful. The search for maximizing yield had insidiously turned into a dopamine hunting expedition, just like it had nearly two decades ago… ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/174a2fd895cb0a250a6c35f32a9769330a89a5159c2ec7c4a2e7797cd80a8362.gif) …in the realms of **RuneScape**. So inevitably I began to contemplate…what was the point of all this? Of course, it was fun to make the “numbah go up,” but not at the cost of emulating a dopamine fiend. DeFi ---- I was all-in to Decentralized Finance – DeFi – home to the wildest financial innovations in the world. A community of brilliant developers and builders had discovered the secrets of modern-day alchemy: they figured out how to **_convert digital packets of information into economically (non) fungible and composable Lego blocks of money_**. Like water. Quite literally, Ether’s properties are analogous to that of water: ![The Defiant (left) and Bankless (right)](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/53e83fc650c50bcc7701f116108ae92b51aa45a9cfd553ef37d56d037dade161.png) The Defiant (left) and Bankless (right) _To me, this mirrored the qualities of_ [_Neurotransmitters_](https://jagtapper-crypto.gitbook.io/ethereum-a-model-of-the-world/part-i/the-economy-of-neurotransmitters) _and opened a Rabbithole to closely examine how the_ [_network resembled the brain_](https://jagtapper-crypto.gitbook.io/ethereum-a-model-of-the-world/part-i/the-economy-of-neurotransmitters)_._ Immersing oneself in this experience is like entering a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). It unlocks for anyone in the world the ability to **_earn virtual money_** but with **_one key difference_**: this digital form of value can support **sustenance in the physical world**. This collective realization led to the emergence of **Play to Earn**: ![Modern P2E games that reward players monetarily for completing in-game tasks. E.g., Axie Infinity (second from left) is valued at $3B, and the game has empowered many citizens of the Philippines.](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/d0e6beb87d8c96246a1fff2390338b266bbeee9882d546745c762436fede99f2.jpg) Modern P2E games that reward players monetarily for completing in-game tasks. E.g., Axie Infinity (second from left) is valued at $3B, and the game has empowered many citizens of the Philippines. ![Sample P2E Model](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/11ab488f385e186e1a1430a9de768b79b1878bb7d14e6f4d4b86949ac144643d.png) Sample P2E Model Lessons from the Past --------------------- The era from 2004-2007 is dubbed the “golden age” of RuneScape (now known as Old School RuneScape; OSRS) by various players because the game was **f2p** (free-2-play) and not play-to-win, among other reasons. While there was a paid members’ version of the game, **_proof-of-work was necessary_** for the membership to confer any advantage in both the **p2p** (pay-2-play) and f2p version of the game. I.e., players gained access to new aspects of RuneScape but were required to _manually train_ their character, level up skills, and acquire new items. It was a simpler time before we had mobile gaming devices, Twitch streams, Discord, and the multitude of tools available today at any gamer’s discretion. But nonetheless, the **PvE** (player-versus-environment) **_game had community_**. Players were _generally_ friendly and cooperative with each other, as they were aligned together in the pursuit of gaining “experience points” in order to level up the many skills available: ![Not my account](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/75852141574b93750c3bec9d602170f6b351b23f7f7406dddf24cee91a74a562.png) Not my account Because there were no cheat codes to level the character up, players were required to **_efficiently allocate_** their **time** and **attention**. **_All six neurocognitive domains were engaged_**: Executive Functioning, Complex Attention, Language, Learning and Memory, Psychomotor Function _(e.g., mouse clicking expertise; avoidance of conditions like Carpel Tunnel; etc.)_, and Social Cognition (_coordinating with other players; theory of mind_). This is **_neuro_**\-cognitive because our [brain networks](https://mirror.xyz/bhau.eth/d_XCYCIs8cXBtsaAFrj37Ui9FkvCEugyEOIIQ_TzpCw) adapt **_functionally_** and **_structurally_** by way of [**neuroplasticity**](https://mirror.xyz/bhau.eth/MwV1SZy1ypVfuxXwxGw9uq40mdc9YnjmlkKlnxojT0Q). Such is the **_Proof-of-Work_** and **_Proof-of-Stake_** that paid intangible dividends to many former (or current) players who also find themselves in Web 3 today. RuneScape oriented players to skills like farming, mining, smithing, crafting, fishing, cooking, woodcutting, and other domains that one would not encounter in the modern world. The completion of quests required forethought and organization, and experientially introduced players to the concept of **_optimizing yield_**; _i.e.,_ > _“I have a limited amount of time on the computer, so I need to make the most of it.”_ It also familiarized players with **_free market_** trading… ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/6f4cabd959123020e024de6740fd09a9d3344058eb1ca621eb6bd058f1c9b8c4.jpg) …and **_centralized_** trading: ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/a3f148887e570c4b6170f535cd49b35bec1d82e9e7258e40dc6b4ebf38c6d046.png) ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/bdca0155e61d9fe09196b80e89ed1798557b814213fe307b3a249fddadd624ed.jpg) It further acquainted players with the Darwinian laws of nature in the Wilderness, where the game turned into PvP (player-versus-player) and players enjoyed “pking” (player-killing): ![f2p pking ](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/87d75c36d2f2f067bfaadf4c89a18b2ddccc5a0ae700acf60d1cd2886fae712d.png) f2p pking **In hindsight, this was essentially training for Web 3**. ### Rug-Pull But perhaps the most valuable lesson was delivered in the form of a **Rug-pull**. In 2007 at its peak, RuneScape had [over a million member players](https://secure.runescape.com/m=news/runescape-reaches-one-million-members) worldwide. However, tensions were mounting due to the growing concerns around real world trading (RWT). According to Jagex and a non-trivial portion of the player community, bots (autoers/gold-farmers) were used to collect gold pieces (gp; the in game currency) that were sold on secondary markets for fiat currency. This was allegedly ruining the game for many players because the game had inadvertently become **pay-to-win**. If in-game items could be traded for real world money, then what incentive would remain for anyone to play when others could conceivably “cheat”? Sadly, this led Jagex to modify the game in such a way that it eliminated the very thing that made RuneScape worth playing: the Wilderness. In addition to regulating “unbalanced” trades of in-game items, player-killing in the Wilderness was also eliminated as it presented an avenue for real world trading (_a player could “kill” another player to collect their loot, in exchange for fiat currency in the real world_). When these changes were implemented on 12/10/2007, [riots broke out](https://runescape.fandom.com/wiki/Pay_to_PK_Riot): ![The people were expressing their opinions, but the voice of the community remained unheard.](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/8c636c41f77c6f6cbf4bc2537cb0f0fd5831dfaad85b3f3f25e26814ad902773.gif) The people were expressing their opinions, but the voice of the community remained unheard. Many players, including myself, quit the game following this change. It is estimated that the company lost the equivalent of nearly $3M in annualized revenue from the exodus. Though Jagex likely had the best intentions in mind, the outcome was an unfavorable one. And as [Vitalik also learned this firsthand](https://about.me/vitalik_buterin), it appears the Web 3 community similarly finds itself rejecting the pangs of centralized regulation today. Instead of Jagex vs. the RuneScape community, we have the U.S. Treasury and S.E.C. vs. Crypto/DeFi/Web 3. **But this time _is_ different.** Gamifying Life -------------- Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) has changed the game. Simply stated, DLT enables the verification of events in a **peer-to-peer manner**. On the Bitcoin blockchain, this event is the **_exchange of value_**, or settlement. On Ethereum, these events can include _value exchange_ **and** _smart contract execution_ in a peer-to-peer manner. From a systems level perspective, this can be conceptualized as another layer in the “stack” that introduces a new **degree of freedom** – the number of independent variables or parameters of a system, which in turn will enable _independent motion in new directions_, and effectively **_new outcomes_** and **_possibilities_**. ![St. Louis Fed report on DeFi (above, right).](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/bc23b75b0b55bf2e94495d4bb1f64c6503af173d4ae4d29ce563473fff0d54da.jpg) St. Louis Fed report on DeFi (above, right). Consequently, smart contract execution in a peer-to-peer manner has enabled the emergence of new layers which themselves feed forward reflexively to generate new layers. This is often why it is difficult to predict or even fathom the range of outcomes possible with such persistent innovation and iterative improvement. So what might come next with the integration of **_hybrid_** smart contracts? ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/545b760da6f5ed4988f6ffd200c6248cd7fb65e0ec762cfeb445f9f03c21c981.jpg) Nothing can be completely automated, and Confirmation of Real World Events with Verifiable Data _will require the input of humans_. Given the constraints of this reality, we can leverage hybrid smart contracts by empowering each individual to, for instance, facilitate the confirmation of daily activities. ### We can enable each person to “mine” his/her own data and “level up” in the game of life. This opens up the gateway to **_incentivize full-scale life skills rehabilitation_**; **Proof-of-X** and **\[Verb\]-2-Earn**. [https://mirror.xyz/bhau.eth/crowdfunds/0xb4aEA15FAaaB7A108AcD26bA060eA9127e5A88cf](https://mirror.xyz/bhau.eth/crowdfunds/0xb4aEA15FAaaB7A108AcD26bA060eA9127e5A88cf) Concluding Remarks ------------------ I like to tie crypto/DeFi/Web3 back to the **United States Constitution** and **Declaration of Independence** because that is the original code that made all of this possible. I’m no legal expert or constitutionalist, but the significance of these documents was thoroughly impressed upon me when I migrated to this country at an early age. And it is abundantly clear why these exist in the first place – **_to uphold the Bill of Rights and each person’s right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness_** that are currently being threatened. Imagine if: * Jagex had addressed RWT by facilitating value exchange related to in-game items or characters in a bottom-up manner by recruiting the community, instead of alienating a large portion by unilaterally asserting top-down control. * Our esteemed leaders collaborated with Web 3 users to understand the space, instead of ignorantly lobbying to stifle innovation. * _OSRS analogy - imagine if they actually attempted to leave tutorial island._ Imagine if **_our systems worked for us_**, instead of the other way around. **Community Ownership is the missing ingredient**. The colonists left Great Britain for the Americas to create and build a world that they could own. They had **stake** in the future of this new society and the exciting directions it would lead. **Skin in the game** was necessary for alignment of incentives, motivation, purpose, and self-actualization. Such incentives are missing today for the generations of tomorrow. ### Web3 changes this. --- *Originally published on [Bhau](https://paragraph.com/@bhau/degen-insights-gamifying-life)*